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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26544511">let it snow, let it snow</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/gazing/pseuds/gazing'>gazing</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Worst Witch (TV 2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Love Confessions, One Shot, Pining, Romance, Short &amp; Sweet, Snow, Winter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 07:27:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,656</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26544511</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/gazing/pseuds/gazing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Remembering a witch’s tale from when she was young, Pippa promised herself she’d tell Hecate how she feels on the first snowfall of the year. Only... it never comes.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hardbroom/Pentangle (Worst Witch)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>64</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>let it snow, let it snow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>so i was organising my google drive and i found this?? i wrote it in 2018 if you can believe it!! so i thought i'd publish it &lt;3 thanks for reading!!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The bedroom of the witching academy is beginning to darken when Hecate Hardbroom slips into Pippa Pentangle’s bedroom with slippered feet and a sheepish apology at coming so late unannounced. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pippa hardly hears Hecate’s whispered </span>
  <em>
    <span>sorry: </span>
  </em>
  <span>it’s disorientating to see her friend’s hair loose. It curls soft and huge around Hecate’s thin shoulders, and Pippa almost loses her breath at the sight of Hecate standing quiet and vulnerable in her nightgown at the end of Pippa’s bed with wild, untamed hair. Pippa has never seen her like this before, but perhaps more prominent than the shock - the hot sensation of attraction and fear curling around her heart like the baby curls at the tip of Hecate’s ears - is a sting of… pride. Somehow, Hecate had begun to trust to Pippa with moments like these: gentle smiles at morning, late night secrets, and loose hair that isn’t constricted by a tight, unyielding bun. Pippa treasures these pockets of gold as much as she can, and keeps them stored in her heart for a rainy day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pippa knows, in a sad, beautiful sort of way, that Hecate had never shared herself with anyone else. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s with a wide smile that Pippa uncrosses her legs and pulls Hecate onto the bed beside her; her familiar, Sparkle, seems irritated when Pippa shifts away from him and closer to Hecate across the covers, but Pippa hardly notices the sharp glance from him. The line of Hecate’s shoulders seems even more tense than usual, and when she brushes a twirled strand of hair from her eyes, Pippa notices the tears glistening on the edges of Hecate’s eyelashes and the pale stretch of her cheeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, Hiccup,” Pippa reaches forward to grab Hecate’s hands; they’re ice cold, as frosty as the oncoming winter, but they don’t pull away from underneath Pippa’s warm grip. “Darling, what’s wrong?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do I need a reason to see my friend?” Hecate asks, glancing down at their hands in the dim and rising moonlight. “Or would you rather I leave you in peace?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your </span>
  <em>
    <span>best </span>
  </em>
  <span>friend.” Pippa’s smile fades - but when she intertwines their fingers, Hecate still doesn’t pull away. “And I have told you this many times before, Hecate. I always want to see you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hm.” Hecate murmurs, “If you must know, Pipsqueak… someone has vandalised my notes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hiccup, I’m so sorry-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It doesn’t concern me.” Hecate lies, her eyebrows narrowed, and Pippa feels a spark of fury - or protective, gorgeous love - spark in the pit of her stomach. It warms the freezing bedroom, thaws the frost climbing up and down Pippa’s windows, and flows to the tips of Pippa’s fluffy socks. “Nor you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What did they write?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d… rather not say.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hiccup…” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pippa has a sudden memory of Hecate’s head bent over a glimmering cauldron, with her face slightly flushed pink from the clouds of rising steam and a small yet so very smug smile tugging at the corners of her lips… how could anyone not adore her with all of themselves? A wave of warmth passes over Pippa and she begins to speak loudly in earnest before truly considering it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am tired with these silly witches who act like they are so much better than you, when really they are not fit to kiss your slippers.” Pippa declares, and she holds Hecate’s fingers so tightly between her own that their knuckles start to turn white. “I happen to think that you are the most enchanting, cleverest witch in this entire castle, and I swear to the Great Wizard anyone who thinks otherwise should answer to me. Do not forget, Hecate, how utterly brilliant you are.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pippa expects Hecate to be amused at her exaggerated confession. To laugh, even. Perhaps this unusual vulnerability - so scary to Pippa, despite popular belief - would be worth it to see the quirk of Hecate’s eyebrow at her absurdity. But Hecate does not mock; she is stiff and wide eyed, like a deer standing still in the shine of headlights, frozen like the magical icicles starting to grow in the crooks and corners of the castle…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you mean that?” Hecate whispers, and Pippa feels her chest tighten… it is hard to breathe when Hecate is looking at her like </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> over the bed as the clouds darken and fade outside. Another curse of being in love with your best friend, Pippa thinks, her cheeks flushed in the merciful dark, is wanting to kiss them at the most inappropriate times and being unable to. At that thought, her hands bring to tremble in a way that Pippa feels is so very dangerous, especially when Hecate swipes her thumb softly over the back of Pippa’s hand…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pippa wonders whether she is dreaming - or hallucinating, or going completely, irrevocably mad - when Hecate begins to lean forward. She almost feels the ghost of Hecate’s lips against her own, and nearly gets to brush her hand against Hecate’s wet cheek… even the dream of it makes Pippa’s heart stutter then fail. They are so close, so close, and Hecate is coming nearer with every second. Pippa can do nothing but wait with her eyes closed and her heart whispering </span>
  <em>
    <span>please, please, oh please let us have this-</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The huge bang! from the corridor beyond the bedroom door bursts the warm bubble that Hecate and Pippa had somehow found themselves in; Hecate springs away, from the soft covers to the hard floor, where she stands with her eyes wilder than Pippa had ever seen them. Pippa has no time to react (her heart is too busy racing within the constraints of her ribcage) before Hecate is whispering a quick goodbye and stumbling out of the door. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hecate trips over Sparkles on her way out of the room and Pippa tries not to smile; despite herself, a huge grin spreads over her cheeks and lights the darkened room even after Hecate has disappeared. How easy would it be, Pippa thinks, to drift from the distant warmth of a friendship to the closeness of.... something else? Pippa has to resist from chasing after Hecate and kissing her against the wall in the corridor. She knows, somehow, that she has to let Hecate come to her, and yet… oh, curse those first year witches who liked to brew ridiculous potions and forgotten the magic pine, or whatever! If that explosion hadn’t disturbed them, then perhaps…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pippa is so distracted that she doesn’t notice the small snowflakes scattered across her bedsheets until one lands on the end of her nose. With a start, Pippa realises her strong emotions have summoned a small white cloud, and a bold idea comes to her with a burst of excitement as she looks up at her own creation. Spots of white drift along the blonde strands of her hair like a crown of snow as Pippa laughs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wrapped up in her covers as a child with her mother’s voice only a half whisper, Pippa had heard so many witch tales, one of which she had never forgotten: if a witch were to make an honest wish on the first snowfall of the year, then it would be fated to come true. Snow did have many magical properties, after all; Hecate had told her every single one, though of course Pippa had forgotten them. It’s with a bursting yet determined heart that Pippa vanishes the cloud above her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She knows what she’ll wish for, has known it since the moment Hecate began to lean towards her: </span>
  <em>
    <span>I wish that she’ll believe me when I tell her I love her. </span>
  </em>
</p><p><span>“On the first snowfall,”</span> <span>Pippa whispers, tracing the remnants of snowflakes on her bedsheets with a secret smile, “That’s when I’ll tell her.”</span></p><p> </p><p>
  <span>*</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Only the first snowfall doesn’t come for weeks and weeks on end; Pippa loses count of the number of nights she stands with her hand pressed against her bedroom windows, her fingers cold on the freezing glass, wishing for snow. The more cold days that pass in a flurry of work and white skies, the further away Hecate gets, until one day Pippa can’t find her face among the crowds of witches at breakfast. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So it’s heartbreaking in more ways than one when the first snowfall comes mere hours after Hecate has left her alone at the water skiing display. As the snow drifts over her blonde hair and slips like tears down her cheeks, she wishes never to love again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>*</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your move.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Decades later, Pippa jumps and almost spills her tea all over the desk and the chessboard; snapped from her daydreams about snow and wishes, she almost misses the quirk of a tiny smile that ghosts at the corner of Hecate’s mouth. It would have been wider in youth, but even still, Pippa saves as many little snippets of Hecate as she can. In their school days, it had been hard to get a laugh or an honest word from Hecate, but now it was almost impossible. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pippa shuffles her feet in her Christmas socks and stares intently at the board; yet somehow she can’t focus on the pawn in front of her, and her mind continues to drift to the white skies outside and the strand of hair that has managed to escape from Hecate’s bun and now curls around her ear. Oh, she had never been very good at chess! Against Hecate Hardbroom, she was bound to lose. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Losing your nerve, Pippa?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The raise of Hecate’s eyebrow is at once challenging amused. Pippa looks back at her with stern eyes and crossed legs, but she can’t help but smile widely; how magical it is to be with her friend on Christmas Eve, with tea and chess and almost-laughter! They had only been friends again for a short while - and they were not without their constant arguments - but in that time everything grey and empty from the years apart had become colourful again. When Pippa sits here in Pippa’s office at Pentangle’s, with their knees almost touching underneath the table, she feels old feelings bubble beneath her skin and threaten to overflow…. Yet even still, it is more than enough to have her best friend again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It has to be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a long moment, Pippa moves her king and waits, only realising her mistake when Hecate makes a move and takes her queen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I say! Very smooth.” Pippa grins. “Well done, Hiccup.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Child’s play, Pipsqueak.” Hecate murmurs, but her subsequent smile is so infectious that Pippa reaches forward to take her hands. They are as cold as they used to be - stiff and still under Pippa’s fingers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, it’s so good to do this with you!” Pippa announces. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>`”Yes, I... suppose it is rather… tolerable... to not be alone at Christmas.” Hecate doesn’t look at Pippa when she speaks; tense, her eyes trace the frozen lines of the window, and Pippa is reminded once again of a deer trapped in the headlights. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she stands on stumbling feet - leaving Pippa’s hands rather unfortunately empty - Pippa is not surprised. Yet… Hecate looks lovely today; she’s traded her tight dress for a more comfortable suit, and away from work she is more relaxed, with her hair in a looser bun that it usually would be. Something about her makes Pippa want to ask her to stay a little longer. If Hecate could just be brave, if she could risk a shred of her dignity…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead, Pippa stands and presses a small kiss to Hecate’s forehead. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merry Christmas, Hecate.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hecate nods and falls over her feet in an attempt to make space between them. Through the window, snow is beginning to make the grass white outside of Pentangles, and an old, warm memory surfaces at the sight of the first snowfall of that year.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merry Christmas to you too, Pippa.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Hecate leaves through the door, apparently forgetting she can use magic, a thought rushes back to Pippa in a swirl of emotion: </span>
  <em>
    <span>I wish that she’ll believe me when I tell her I love her. </span>
  </em>
  <span>The ghost of Hecate’s lips almost against her own so many years ago is enough to tilt her heart off balance. How many years had Pippa sat in this very room with her head in her hands, wishing for one more chance?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pippa appears abruptly where Hecate is walking swiftly down a corridor of Pentangle’s; for a moment, they only look at each other while the first spots of snow fall outside. Then Pippa steps forward, across the pink carpet, with her heart positioned delicately in her hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hiccup.” She murmurs, and it takes all of her bravery to speak. “I didn’t want you to leave before… you see, I must…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Have you got something you need to say, Pipsqueak?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you remember,” Pippa bursts out, “The night you told me those silly witches had ruined your notes?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hecate starts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I do.” She says, slowly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I remembered a witch's tale that my mother told me when I was young about the first snowfall, you see?” Pippa laughs, nervous, and twiddles with her hands. “And I swore I would tell you something, when the snow fell for the first time that year, but of course I never got the chance.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And what, pray tell,” Hecate says, careful, “Were you going to tell me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You must forgive me.” Pippa speaks in a rush. “I can’t help myself when you are so beautiful, and so you! I wanted to tell you, I did, but it’s all so very scary… and you must know you are my oldest and dearest friend… I would never want to lose that… but seeing as the snow has fell for the first time this year- I mean to tell you- that is, to say- oh, dear Hecate, I’m so very in love with you. I always have been.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hecate blinks; frozen and stiff, she stares back at Pippa incredulously. The moment is so serious that Pippa feels a bubbling urge to burst into laughter; however scary it had been, she had finally released an aching feeling of so many years, and how good it had felt!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pippa...” Hecate pauses, stumbles, with a lovely crack in her voice. There are tears at the corner of her eyes - something broken in the edges of her smile. For the first time, Pippa feels a glimmer of hope. “I… love you too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You do?” Pippa whispers, and for the first time in decades, she smiles a real smile; there are tears slipping down her face, now, in time with the snowflakes on the corridor windows. “But, the water skiing display…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was afraid,” Hecate murmurs, her eyes focused very carefully on the strands of the pink carpet. “That I was not enough for you, and that I had somehow misunderstood your intentions.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You didn’t.” Pippa’s teary laugh breaks through the tension. “Oh, darling, you didn’t. You are always enough for me. More than enough.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It takes mere seconds for Pippa to cross the distance and pull Hecate to her; to kiss her lovely mouth while the snow makes patterns on the windows feels even better than she imagined, and she swears to the Great Wizard that she has never felt anything so glorious in all of her long, aching life. When Hecate arches into the kiss and lets go, something long suppressed unravels in Pippa’s chest and she feels free; with her hands tangled in Hecate’s now loose hair and her mouth at the base of Hecate’s throat, Pippa glows.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you, Hiccup.” Pippa murmurs into her skin, revelling at the bubble of laughter that spills from Hecate’s mouth and vibrates in her throat. How long had it been since Pippa had heard her laugh? Far too long. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know, Pipsqueak.” Hecate says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s only then - wrapped around Hecate while the snow falls for the first time that year - that Pippa realises her wish has come true.</span>
</p>
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